Daily Archives: March 24, 2015
Arkansas Committee Advances Sweeping Anti-LGBT Legislation
Arkansas Committee Advances Sweeping Anti-LGBT Legislation
HB 1228 would allow individuals to sue government actors—including teachers, firefighters and police officers—if that individual believed that their personal religious beliefs were being violated.
HRC.org
ttth turismo lgbt etec
ttth turismo lgbt etec
ttth turismo lgbt etec.
Harry Potter Author Schools Fan Who 'Can't See' Dumbledore as Gay
Harry Potter Author Schools Fan Who 'Can't See' Dumbledore as Gay
J.K. Rowling answers back at a fan who questions why she made Dumbledore a gay character.
Yezmin Villarreal
Gay or Straight, Today's Dads Are the New Moms
Gay or Straight, Today's Dads Are the New Moms
The administrator at our children’s school recently called our house and asked if she could speak with “Mrs. Diamond.” I understood instantly — she wanted to speak to the mom. But my kids don’t have a mom. They have two dads. To her surprise I replied, “This is Mrs. Diamond.”
The administrator apologized, explaining that she had recently returned from a leave of absence. But my mind was racing: Why do schools and so many aspects of childcare — from diaper commercials to changing stations in public restrooms — focus on moms and exclude dads, gay or not? Even when coordinating things from school parties to carpools, the moms always make the assumption that everyone on the list is a mom. The email chain often begins with “Dear Ladies”. When we travel with our kids on a trip, frequently we get asked if we gave the moms a weekend off. Even as women have rapidly moved out of the home and into the workplace, even as our society has increasingly accepted diverse family structures (including two-dad families), and even as more dads are staying home with their children, the perception of mom as sole caregiver has persisted.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is challenging this notion. In recent years, she has pushed to increase women’s power in the workplace with her “lean in” mantra. Now she’s asking men to join that effort, in a new “Lean in Together” campaign that encourages men not only to advocate for women in the office, but also take on more responsibility at home. I am thrilled that men have been invited to the “lean in” conversation and I share Sandberg’s gender equality goal. Her noble aspiration to broaden society’s perceptions of what women can accomplish in the workplace is matched by my hope to broaden perceptions of what men do at home. In a Yahoo News interview, Sandberg got it right when she said, “We also haven’t supported men as caregivers. … Women get discriminated against in the office; men get discriminated against when it comes to care.”
Addressing gender equality in the home has mostly focused on getting men involved in housework. As a dad in the mommy-centric world of child care, I often have a front-row seat at school events, ballet lessons and playing fields when moms discuss how challenging it is to juggle the demands of their jobs with the demands of their families. They feel unsupported when it comes to everyday responsibilities, ranging from taking care of a sick child to getting dinner on the table. Maybe, just maybe, dad could load the dishwasher? Sandberg has validated this notion, insisting that men stand to gain when they “lean in” to the laundry. There’s a carrot at the end of all that choreplay, she says: Research declares couples who share chores equally have more sex.
But the burden should not be just on dads. Moms — and society in general — seem to be under the impression that dads are incompetent when it comes to matters of the home. A very smart mom I know shared with me her secret to dividing labor and keeping harmony in her house. When her husband makes the bed she says “thank you” — even if he doesn’t make the bed the right way. And she never remakes the bed after him to ensure she is not always stuck doing the chore. Validating that her husband is capable of doing housework was the key to freeing up her time.
As in housework, dads have more to provide in childcare than they are given credit for. Recently, I saw a letter online at popsugar.com written by a mom expounding her motherly wisdom and insisting on her infallibility “because I am a mom!” From the most everyday occurrence to the most tragic, she believes that mothers have more empathy than non-mothers. I have heard this refrain for 10 years, from mothers providing tips on everything from setting a sleep schedule to dealing with preteen mood swings. While I am grateful for these pearls of wisdom, the “I know because I am a mom” refrain insists that women know more, feel more, intuit more. It assumes that moms are naturally better at this parenting game than dads. My experience hasn’t supported that. Recently, my 10-year-old daughter insisted she wanted bouncy hair just like Jessie on the Disney Channel. One YouTube lesson later, her hair was more “That Girl” than Disney, but she was happy. Some moms around town were astounded and exclaimed, “I couldn’t do that, much less my husband.”
Sometimes I hear my mom-friends say that their husbands are “babysitting” their kids, implying that dad is not a true parent, but just an inferior caregiver. If we want more gender equality at home, we have to get rid of these outdated notions. Moms and dads have come a long way from the “Leave it to Beaver” days. The assumption that moms have a greater sense of connection to and empathy for their children is based on outdated gender roles. Asserting superiority alienates fathers and undermines society’s effort to bring more gender balance to parenting.
There is some evidence that these notions are changing. If we believe what we saw in the latest Super Bowl commercials, there is a new dad in town. In between the tackles and touchdowns, there were images of dads dancing with their daughters and hugging their sons. Dove compiled images of dads taking care of their kids — lathering them in sunscreen, brushing their hair, comforting them and kissing them — under the tagline “care makes a man stronger.” As a marketer, I know this softer and more helpful guy must exist if advertisers are willing to spend $150,000 dollars a second to reach him. This enlightened dad also knows what detergent to use to get out food stains, sweeps up behind his kids and sentimentally records moments in his child’s life. It appears that we are on the cusp of a lean-in dad archetype.
It’s about time that we realized that dads can clear both the dishes and their sons’ tears. Just as outmoded gender stereotypes are being challenged by women in the office, old assumptions about roles in the family need to be thrown out as well. Society, schools and even some moms need to get comfortable with men contributing to a traditionally female domain. Dads are ready to lean in, and many already are. With 10 years’ experience as “Mrs. Diamond,” I am happy to be among them.
Senator Inhofe Throws Red Meat At Anti-LGBT Base Attacking Marriage Equality
Senator Inhofe Throws Red Meat At Anti-LGBT Base Attacking Marriage Equality
Today HRC condemned an amendment introduced in the Senate as a last ditch effort to undermine marriage equality.
HRC.org
“Masturbation Will Make Me Turn Gay” And 40 More Wacky Lies From The Mormon Church
“Masturbation Will Make Me Turn Gay” And 40 More Wacky Lies From The Mormon Church
Some of these would be hilarious if they weren’t still actually-held beliefs by many people. And some are just terrifying no matter the context.
Reformed brainwashee Mormon Redditer VilateandHelen recently racked their brain to come up with all the lies learned (and subsequently unlearned) growing up in the church.
There must be plenty more, but this is a pretty comprehensive list.
Buckle up:
Black people were not valiant in the pre-existence.
Joseph Smith never practiced polygamy.
Brigham Young did everything he could to prosecute the killers in Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Gay people choose to be gay.
Mary had sex with God in Heaven.
People with mental illness are possessed by the Devil.
The second coming would be in the Year 2000.
Mormons didn’t practice polygamy after 1890.
So many young ladies joined the church in the 1800’s because the men died in wars.
I would probably end up living in Jackson County Virginia.
The earth is only six thousand years old.
Evolution is a lie.
Dinosaur bones were put on Earth by the devil.
The Church has the Gold Plates and Sword of Laban in its vaults.
The sealed portion of the Golden Plates would be released any day.
I was one of the greatest generals in the War in Heaven.
Brigham Young mostly just married widows.
African people weren’t prepared enough to handle the priesthood.
The temple would be an amazing experience.
Masturbation with make me turn gay.
Bishops can read my mind.
All my tithing goes to building churches and temples.
The RLDS church was led by the Devil.
The church had secret missionaries in China.
Women should not wear makeup or dye their hair.
Angels helped push the handcarts.
The Book of Mormon is the most perfect book on Earth.
The Book of Abraham was written by Abraham and translated by Joseph Smith.
The devil ruled the waters.
All the Indians were Lamanites.
Joseph translated the Book of Mormon using the Urim and Thummim.
There had been no changes in the temple ceremony.
The Masons got their ceremony from looking at Solomon’s Temple.
People leave the Mormon church because they want to sin.
It will be proven that coffee is as bad as smoking.
The Catholic church is run by the devil.
Archeologists have tons of proof of the Book of Mormon.
God’s doctrine never changes.
Anything not written by the church is Anti – Mormon.
The Holy Ghost is a better witness than logic.
Church leaders are not paid.
Christ walks the halls of the temple with the Prophet.
Dan Tracer
Texas Same-Sex Marriage Plaintiffs Endure 2nd Harrowing Child Birth With No Parental Rights: PHOTOS
Texas Same-Sex Marriage Plaintiffs Endure 2nd Harrowing Child Birth With No Parental Rights: PHOTOS
Cleopatra DeLeon and Nicole Dimetman were inspired to become plaintiffs in a marriage equality lawsuit during the birth of their first child.
DeLeon experienced delivery complications, and if something had happened to her, Dimetman wouldn’t have had any parental rights — even though they were legally married in Massachusetts.
After Dimetman became pregnant with the couple’s second child, it was an argument the couple’s attorneys repeatedly raised as they urged federal courts to lift a stay of a February 2014 decision striking down Texas’ marriage ban.
Over the weekend, Dimetman gave birth to a baby girl, Eliana Naomi (above and below), and again there were complications.
“Labor is scary and anything can happen,” Dimetman said in a statement on Monday. “I had an infection as a complication of labor that led to an emergency C-section. A day that should have been one of the happiest of our life was terrifying for Cleo. If I had not made it through the childbirth, Cleo would not have been our daughter’s legal mother because her name is not allowed on the birth certificate in Texas.”
DeLeon said the couple was overjoyed about the birth of but disappointed that Texas’ marriage ban remains in place.
“It is unfair to deny loving parents like us the basic legal protections that provide stability and security so critical to child rearing,” DeLeon said. “We pray for the day when all Texans are treated equally under the law and we do not have to live in fear that something bad could happen in childbirth and I would not be considered the child’s parent by law. We hope the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court make all marriages legal in Texas and across the nation.”
Neel Lane, one of the couple’s attorneys, noted it’s been more than two months since the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the Texas marriage case, but the three-judge panel still hasn’t ruled.
“This otherwise joyous day for Nicole and Cleo is a sad one because, in the eyes of Texas, Nicole is an unwed mother,” Lane said. “Her valid marriage to Cleo is declared void by a Texas law that U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia declared unconstitutional more than a year ago. Court after court have agreed with him, and no one doubts the U.S. Supreme Court will do the same.”
The other plaintiffs in the Texas marriage lawsuit, Mark Phariss and Vic Holmes, issued a statement congratulating DeLeon and Dimetman.
“We are so thrilled for them!” Phariss and Holmes said. “Unfortunately, Texas law does not recognize Cleo as a parent, even though Cleo and Nicole have been married for more than 5 ½ years. As a result, they must spend money to go to court to fix that, money that could be saved instead for their daughter’s future education, health care, and welfare. The time has now come for marriage equality to be recognized in Texas for the sake Nicole and Cleo and their daughter and for the sake of all gays and lesbians in Texas, including Vic and me who, after 18 years together, desperately want to marry the person we love in the state we love.”
John Wright
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After Brutal Beating of Gay Man in Miss., Suspect Outs Himself
After Brutal Beating of Gay Man in Miss., Suspect Outs Himself
Whatever the cause, no one is disputing how savagely Devin Norman was beaten.
Neal Broverman
www.advocate.com/crime/2015/03/24/after-brutal-beating-gay-man-miss-suspect-outs-himself